The Big 12 grabs the national spotlight tonight as No. 24 TCU visits Texas Tech in what should be an entertaining game at Jones AT&T Stadium.

The Red Raiders haven’t found a natural rival to match their historical hatred of Texas A&M since the Aggies left for the Southeastern Conference. But TCU might approach that level — particularly if tonight continues to run of close recent games between the two powers.

They recruit against each other and Tech even has members of Kliff Kingsbury’s staff who used to work for Gary Patterson. Throw in two entertaining quarterbacks and explosive offenses and we should have a good one on the High Plains tonight.

Here’s my prediction. I’ll be back with the rest of the Big 12 tomorrow afternoon.

No. 24 TCU 38 (minus-3), Texas Tech 27 — Even with Trevone Boykin starting, the Horned Frogs have confidence in their backup after he won on the road in three conference games last season. The larger TCU offensive line is presumed to be one of the Horned Frogs’ weaknesses, although mauling the smaller Red Raiders at the point of attack would be a confidence-building effort as the line starts Big 12 play. A combination of TCU running backs will take turns slicing through the Red Raiders defense as the Horned Frogs get revenge for the triple-overtime loss in Fort Worth last season.